Chapter 27. The Harvest Festival
The Harvest Festival is the twenty-seventh chapter of manga series Darker than Black: Shikkoku No Hana. Summary Three security groups move to confront the intruder who broke into the underground cargo hold in the Nishijima Building. One of them orders the troops to hit the intruder, who is a Contractor as hard as possible while two other groups secure the exits. One of the groups emerges from the south emergency exit in to thick fog. They are swiftly defeated by a dandelion-infected soldier. As the security room staff struggle to deal with what is happening, Dr. Etō tells them that it may be the result of an awakened soldier's power. Stating that he was alone, he says that he has grown stronger since he tested the soldier. He tells the security officer to tell Commander Nishijima that the soldier's goal will be the fully formed flowers located in the building. As other scientists bang on the locked door, Etō extolls the beauty of the fully formed flower, whose growth he took every means to promote. Harvest enters the building and is promptly attacked by the guards, who are slain by one of the awakened soldiers. After praising the soldier's special ability, he infects the defeated security guards with the black flower and they stand up as flowers begin to sprout from them. From his office, Commander Nishijima receives updates on the situation. Surprised by these development,s he demands to know where Dr. Etō is. However, his aid insists that he should escape now. He then reveals that Dr. Etō has sealed the lab with the flower in it. They are interrupted by the sight of Hei's helicopter flying passed the window. The helicopter is shot down by the fog generating soldier using a RPG, forcing Hei to leap from the helicopter with Yin and Azusa Tsukimori on to the roof. The explosion destroys Nishijima's helicopter as well. Hei notes the fog is not normal and there is a smell of blood and offal, suggesting that many people have already died there and that Harvest is attempting to collect the flower. Win tells Hei the location of the flower and Hei decides to get their ahead of Harvest and ambush him. Commander Nishijima arrives on the roof to find the remains of his helicopter and is angered at the sight of Hei. He ignores Abigail Croft's warning to stay back and scolds Hei, blaming him for his son's disgrace and death followign the failure of the Saturn Ring project. When Hei tells the guards to lower their guns as he has no intention of killing them or their boss, Nishijima snatches a shotgun from one of them. He declares that he will kill Hei to remove the stain on his family caused by his son's failure, but Abigail uses her ability to stop him, saying that the odds of him surviving were shrinking. Characters in Order of Appearance #Harvest #Etō #Commander Nishijima #Abigail Croft #Yin #Hei #Azusa Tsukimori Navigation Second manga 27 Category:Shikkoku No Hana